Held up by a sandwich packet’s refusal
to fold and slip through the slot of a bin,
I couldn’t have known how
this recalcitrant plastic and cardboard
was playing its part in circumstance –
that, no more than six months later,
I would be sitting on a balcony
in Druzhba or, another year on,
receiving gifts in Boris Gardens.
There was little hint of spring
in that chilly March evening
and an all-but-empty lecture hall.
At the very edge of the moment
when the day might have
begun to close like any other,
a still, small voice interrupted
my delay. Six months later,
I would be sitting on a balcony
in Druzhba and, another year on,
receiving gifts in Boris Gardens.
13 March marks the anniversary of the meeting two years ago which led to Colourful Star.
